“What it alleges,” he said, “is that on Oct. 9 you recklessly caused the death of Elizabeth Marriott under circumstances manifesting in extreme indifference to the value of human life by strangling her and/or suffocating her.”

Morrison entered no plea on Mazzaglia's behalf. He said the defendant has already filled a petition seeking legal counsel. He is being held at Strafford County House of Corrections, and is scheduled to appear for a probable cause hearing on Oct. 29 at 10 a.m.

Seth Mazzaglia is seen via video link during his arraignment Monday, Oct. 15, in Dover, N.H. The 29-year-old Dover resident has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of University of New Hampshire student Elizabeth 'Lizzi' Marriott.

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Morrison also announced the state will allow Mazzaglia's attorney an opportunity to view the affidavit attached to warrants authorizing police to arrest Mazzaglia and search his apartment this weekend. The information will be divulged to the public defender's office, but will not be made public to anyone other than Mazzaglia and his attorney.

New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said the next update in the case will come at 3 p.m. today at the earliest. Authorities will hold a press conference at Dover Circuit Court.

Marriott was last seen Tuesday, Oct. 9, while at a class at the UNH campus in Durham. Family members say she texted a friend in Massachusetts and said she was heading to Dover to visit an apartment on Mill Street. The last transmission from her cell phone came at about 10:10 p.m., when a signal reached a tower in Dover.

Marriott failed to show up for work the following morning at Target in Greenland, N.H., and was also absent from class on Thursday, Oct. 11.

At a press conference Saturday, Assistant Attorney General James Vara announced police have gathered “credible” information establishing Marriott is dead, but they have been unable to locate her body. They were concentrating their search Friday and Saturday at Peirce Island in Portsmouth.

Marriott's car, a 2001 Mazda Tribute, has been discovered at a parking lot at UNH.

Investigators were active on Mill Street in Dover on Friday evening, but would not discuss the investigation. A Dover Police Department crime scene investigation van and two police cruisers were seen parked outside a Mill Street apartment building.

Mazzaglia appears to have been the operator of a website located at www.sjmazzaglia.com. The page provides career history for a man named Seth J. Mazzaglia living at 1 Mill St. in Dover.

The website indicates Mazzaglia is an “experienced actor, writer and fight choreographer,” who has been active in southern New Hampshire's theater community for several years.

State Police and investigators from the FBI joined the search Friday for the missing 19-year-old, who was living with her aunt and uncle in Chester, N.H., and commuting to UNH. Marriott is a 2011 graduate of Westborough High School in Massachusetts and was studying marine biology, according to her uncle. She attended Manchester Community College her freshman year before transferring to UNH this year.

No family members attended Monday's hearing, but the court was crowded with media.

A spokesman at the Portsmouth Police Department said Monday afternoon that local police have ceased their search effort at Peirce Island, and have not been active there today. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said authorities there have also ceased taking part in the search. Dover police were referring all comment to the attorney general's office.

A spokesman from the attorney general's office could not immediately be reached for comment about the investigation Monday afternoon.

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